Netflix It: Madoka Magica

Every so often you get a story that not only transcends beyond the limitations of its chosen genre, but deconstructs it; devastating the tropes that define it in a way that resounds indefinitely. Watchmen did it for superhero comics, Scream did it to a lesser extent for slasher films (before becoming a joke itself with unnecessary sequels), Neon Genesis Evangelion did it for mecha, the Grand Theft Auto series routinely does it for third-person shooter video games, and for magical girl anime there’s Puella MagiMadoka Magica.

Part of what made this show so brilliant was the way it was presented and marketed in a way to catch the audience completely off-guard. For those not into anime, let me explain. Magical girls are invariably upbeat, saccharine girl-power heroines with powers fueled by love and kittens who spread joy to the world by beating cartoonish baddies with extra-sparkly magical powers while navigating the social perils of high school like supercharged Hannah Montanas. Surely you’ve at least heard of Sailor Moon. So when you go for a magical girl anime, you aren’t expecting something that’s going to challenge you intellectually. You’re looking for something like this:

And if you’re anything like me, you just watched that trailer and thought “BORING!” But given the insane praise the show received (its Netflix rating is comparable to shows like Breaking Bad and Dexter and it’s on about every best anime list of the last few years), I decided to give it a shot and went in blind. I’m going to get into the themes of the story pretty in-depth during this review so if I’ve piqued your interest already at this point you may consider spending a few hours binge-watching the show’s twelve episodes before you finish this article. Pretty much any information regarding the story of Magica Madoka could be tantamount to spoilage, although I’ll avoid specifics.

Still here? Let’s do this. The premise is that a Pokemon-esque creature named Kyubei grants wishes to girls with “potential” who then become magical girls. Yawn. But there are aspects of this series that are borderline revolutionary right off the bat. While the opening credits and first episode carry on the charade of a typical girlie anime, it doesn’t take long before things get unusual with our heroines.

It is the duty of magical girls to patrol their territory in search of witches, who represent the evil in the world. They cause people to do horrible things as well as natural disasters, car crashes, and possibly Michael Bay films and Nickelback albums. If it’s really bad, blame a witch. All standard operating procedure. Until you meet the witch. It’s not your usual My Little Pony villain. These things exist in pocket dimensions called labyrinths that can’t be described in any other way than Lovecraftian.

The witches themselves as well as their dimensions are put together using a variety of animation techniques that make them extra-creepy and otherworldly compared to the stylish manga-anime style of the rest of the world. It’s visually striking to say the least and unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. This aspect alone makes this show something every animation fan should check out.

Helloooooooo there! They call me Mister Sprinkles and I’ll be the one devouring your soul tonight!

As the story hurtles along, more and more layers are added to it until the bleakness is almost overwhelming. What is the real cost of the girls’ Faustian bargain? Well, for starters, each girl possesses a soul gem which becomes corrupted as they use their powers. The only way to purify it again is to kill a witch, which drops a grief seed which sucks the corruption out. It’s not too difficult to guess what happens when a soul gem becomes entirely corrupt.

So basically, the girls have to constantly kill witches, and when territories overlap they often need to compete against each other to keep their gems pure. They also need to allow witch larva (called familiars) to mature into full witches by killing humans so that they can get a grief seed, otherwise they risk the very power they use to save those lives corrupting them. In order to survive, magical girls must essentially cut each others’ throats while standing by and letting people get killed in pursuit of their own interest. Still sound like crusaders of love and justice to you?

As more and more of the mysteries of Madoka Magica’s world are revealed, we start to see things in a very different light. What was cute suddenly seems menacing. In most stories when a character’s motives are revealed to be sinister, they begin behaving in a cartoonishly villainous manner, but in this case the behavior doesn’t change at all. It’s only our perception of it that has changed due to proper context. That is very high level storytelling.

Destroyer of worlds?

And there’s plenty more to go around. A shocking amount of material is crammed into twelve episodes here. I don’t know how they managed so much character development while juggling space-time metaphysics, philosophical and moral quandaries, stunning action visuals, and general anime goofiness, but they also managed one of the finest soundtracks I’ve hear in a long time. Moody classical pieces, fluffy J-pop, and rock guitar don’t usually go together in a seamless bundle, but they managed it. This is far from a typical show in any sense.

Which takes is back to the start. Normally, you’d market something like Madoka Magica as some visionary piece of art with dramatic trailers and suitably dark and bizarre imagery to help it find its target audience. Instead, they chose to target the last people who would seek something like that out and tricked them into watching something intellectually stimulating instead of the syrupy crap they were looking for. As the show progressed I kept thinking how utterly misleading the opening credits were, and it’s only after I read up on the show afterwards that I understood why. It’s kind of wonderful when you think about it, and I don’t think it’d ever fly in America where most trailers choose to give up the entire plot of a film or show right off the bat.

Here’s a great fan-made trailer that better captures the aesthetics the show if not the tone.

The television series is currently streaming on Netflix, and has since been made into a film trilogy with the first two movies recapping the show and the third being all new material. I haven’t seen the films yet, but the third one will definitely be on my to-buy list when it gets a North American release. And if you’ve any interest in anime whatsoever, Puella MagiMadoka Magica is as good a reason to fire up your Netflix app as you’re going to find.

About The Author

trashcanman

Nick enjoys long walks on the beach, engaging himself in socially questionable brands of entertainment, and writing frivolous things on the internet. Don't take it personally. It only encourages him.

Brendan

I loved the series. It took one of the most trope littered genres in Anime and flipped the script. It was a lot like Evangelion in that regard.(Prior to Eva, every Amuro Ray-esque kid who stepped into a mech instantly mastered it. Shinji literally fell on his face)

The one problem with recommending the series to people who aren’t anime vets, is they aren’t all that familiar with the tropes that are being flipped. For example, having watched/read CC:Sakura, Sailormoon, Akazukin Chachah, ect.. helped me get a “fan-service” layer to the plot

http://nickverboon.wordpress.com/ Nick Verboon

I figure a lot of non-anime fans will still be able to appreciate a visual and musical feast with a really interesting and well thought out story. I’d hate to think you’d have to suffer through the shallow repetition of the magical girl genre to enjoy Madoka. It’s likely to turn some people off of anime before they even get there.

Speaking of fan-service, I’m currently watching Kill la Kill and it actually takes the opposite approach. While Madoka tosses out the crap and leaves a meaner, leaner, more intelligent story in its wake, Kill la Kill overloads the viewer with so many ridiculous tropes it functions as a parody of the entire medium. It’s actually confusing me a little that people love that one as much as they do.

Brendan

I heard so many good things about Kill la Kill I decided to give a crack about a year or so back… One episode was all I gave it. As a 29 year old married man with a kid on the way, I felt impossibly skeezy watching it. If the wife caught me watching it…man…Dead. HBO Original TV show nudity? Fine. Borderline animated nudity? A death sentence. The amount of under boob is too damn high!

Just finished Chaika:The Coffin Princess, which would be well worth your time if you’re lookin’ for a newer anime

MattChi

Agreed with everything said about Kill la Kill. Just finished Chaika last night, that was good, enjoyed that series. No Game No Life was really good this season as well, if you don’t mind some minor fan-service (mostly for the sake of humor)

Brendan

Been meaning to check out the Sidonia anime, it’s one of my favorite manga going right now.

I obviously don’t mind a little fan-service but I just I outgrew the over the top stuff. It just re-enforces a negative stereotype I always try and dismiss when trying to convince the wife and certain friends that I’m not a weirdo for being an anime fan. It doesn’t matter if an anime like Monster is top shelf television storytelling, because if they see a fight scene in Kill la Kill or to go old-school, Sorcerer Hunters, the whole medium takes its lumps.

Ever seen High School of the Dead? Talk about fanservice ruining a perfectly good story! Jesus. I mean, I like a little fanservice here and there but there’s ways of giving us eye candy without being so obnoxious about it.

I actually kind of like how Kill la Kill makes fanservice jokes the cornerstone of the series (the heroes are called “Nudist Beach” and the villains are trying to use clothing to enslave people) but some shows are constantly shoving giant boobs and pantyshots in your face without tongues in cheeks or anything. It does get old.

cypher20

Oh HOTD, I agree with you on that one. I remember early on the characters are hearing a new reports about how terrible things are going on around the country. Only thing is, it’s really hard to feel any drama from the moment because you’re looking up the female lead’s skirt while she’s watching the TV, completely ruins the moment.

cypher20

I was wondering if Kill la Kill would come up as it also has been called a subversive anime. Personally, I liked it simply because it is such fun. It just takes everything and amps it up to 11, very much like Gurren Lagann (I understand both shows come from the same team). Overall it is just crazy fun, I don’t know how else to describe it. It just takes a concept and runs with it, common sense be damned.

Ultimately, if you don’t like fan service it isn’t for you although they censor it (why are boobs with no nipples so much more ok then ones with? Weird). Personally, I could have used less fanservice but the show was so much fun I just ignored it. Have to love their “recap episode”, ha Basically, the show made me smile, which is good.

http://nickverboon.wordpress.com/ Nick Verboon

I agree completely. It’s good times, but I guess I was just expecting something more considering the widespread praise it’s received. I might write something about it after I finish it depending on how I feel.